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Saturday, 29 December 2012

A social media tasting of sparkling wine and Champagne

In mid December 2012, I attended the plush surrounds of Circa, The Prince, to taste, talk and "tweet" about a group of sparkling wines with a relatively newly formed tasting group, Imbiber Melbourne established by fellow WSET diploma student Caroline Tunnell-Jones and Ben Hosie. It is similarly modelled I understand to tasting groups operating in Sydney and Brisbane, namely Spitbucket and Swirl Sniff Spit, respectively. The atmosphere was engaged and the tasting well organised with handouts saving much research. Despite the apparent paradox of social media here - being seated with company for the purpose of typing away on an iPhone or equivalent about the wines - I found the session quite interesting and interactive, and it was nice to put (real) faces to names.

Domaine Chandon Vintage Brut 2009, various sources
A blend of 50% pinot noir, 47% chardonnay and 3% pinot meunier, and sees 7g/l of dosage. Lemon in colour. Aromas of apples, pears and a bit of biscuit. Principally fruit driven. Finishes dry, with straw, apples, pear and soda water. Well made identifiably Australian sparkling if a bit unexciting. Good

A blend of 56% chardonnay, 37% pinot noir and 7% pinot meunier. Winemaker Karina Dambergs is also a fellow WSET diploma student, and happily makes some good wine. Lemon-white in colour. Lemons, apple, quite pronounced intensity of aromatics and fine bubbles. On the palate, stones and a creamy mousse. I thought it a bit of a "step up" in quality. Good

Clover Hill Vintage 2008, Tasmania
Lemon-white in colour. Muted aromatics of biscuit, integrated straw and lemon citrus. Firm acid on the palate, initially a little rough, but shows balance and straw characters with time. I did though marginally prefer the NV. Good

Arras Vintage 2004, Tasmania
A blend of 66% chardonnay and 35% pinot noir, with 9g/l of dosage. Lemon-white in colour. Quite lemon zesty aromatics, with a bit of yeast, minerals, soda, wood and oak. On the palate, yeast, creamy mousse, straw, apples, balanced and medium length, maybe a bit more. The best of the set so far, showing some more complex yeast characters. Good to Very Good

Taittinger Brut NV, Champagne
A blend of 60% pinot noir and 40% chardonnay. A surprise packet here. Perhaps it was because I tasted it after the preceding group of Victorian and Tasmanian sparkling wines, but it certainly stood out. Lemon in colour. Aromas of yeast, biscuts, apple, citrus, wood and straw. Creamy mousse on the palate, well made and classically styled. The other table disliked it. The same bottle too. Perhaps they had been reading W. Blake Gray's comments here and here. Good to Very Good

Laurent-Perrier Brut NV, Champagne
A blend of 45% chardonnay, 40% pinot noir and 15% pinot meunier. Lemon, biscuit, yeast and a muted intensity of expression. The palate showed as quite lemony and with high acid. A fairly average showing from a wine I usually have no complaint with. Acceptable to Good

Pol Roger Brut NV, Champagne
A 33/33/33 blend of chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier with 12g/l of dosage. If you have read this far, the remaining 1% appeared to be vegemite. Very yeasty aromatics. Quite overt. Creamy mousse, lemons, minerals and fell a bit short on the palate. Good

Pol Roger Vintage 2002, Champagne
A blend of 60% pinot noir and 40% chardonnay, with 8g/l of dosage. Yeasty again, with old oak there too. Lemons and a creamy mousse on the palate. Classically styled. Good to Very Good

Surprisingly enough being a blanc de blancs, this is a 100% chardonnay. Aromatics of yeast, bread, apple, with its chardonnay character evident. On the palate, high acid, lemon, quite a lean and austere style, supplemented by minerals and wood. Feels like it needed more love to thrive. Good

This was probably my wine of the night. Aromatics of yeast in a medium intensity expression. The palate has peach, high acid, classical style, good length, elegance and comes together well. In a word, "balanced". Very Good